Tuesday, 2 February 2010

OMIGOD chocolate chip cherry oatmeal cookies!

So I've been paging through The Joy of Cooking, and there are about a million things I want to make: crepes, sour cream pound cake, chocolate mousse cake, and most of all angel food cake, which was my dad's favorite birthday dessert when I was a kid and so it always reminds me of being allowed to eat sweet things (starting to get a sense of why I'm so obsessed with baking?). But, as mentioned in an earlier, whinier post, I don't have the tools required to make any of those recipes. Nonetheless, I soldiered on, and last night I decided to try the famous chocolate chip cookies. Then I watched Desperate Housewives and read a hundred pages of the book I'm assigned for class and had dinner and watched a BBC program on the African Rift...
By the time I got around to getting in the kitchen, it was 10:40 pm and our online grocery shop (seriously, the only way to do it here) had arrived. I'd asked the bf to order me some dried cherries, at a very dear 2.50 for a pack of 26, and as far as I was concerned they were right on time; my roommate in college used to get care packages from her mom with chocolate-cherry cookies, and I've never forgotten what an inspired combination it was.

Notice my pretty new pyrex mixing bowls? They photograph so much better than the blue one.

Yum-tastic close-up.

So I put together the recipe as instructed, but when it came time to add the chocolate chips I also threw in all our cherries (minus the eight or so I'd eaten... oops. But they're seriously amazing). And then I tossed in a cup of oats too, for texture. I was a little concerned the addition of another dry ingredient would screw up the consistency of my cookies, but the dough looked ok, and it tasted SO GOOD, so I gave it a shot.

Seriously delicious dough.

Five minutes later I pulled the trays out of the oven, to find slightly gloopy-middled, crispy-edged little rounds of deliciousness. They needed to sit a little longer on the sheets than normal, because the centers were so soft, but let me tell you, they were worth the wait!

A little gloopy in the middle, but that's ok in my book!

I'm tempted to bring them into class tonight, but I don't really want to part with them...

Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Joy of Cooking

(AHP Note: these cookies are exactly what I love: flat, soft but crispy at the edges. If you prefer a cakier cookie, this recipe may not be for you.)
Preheat the oven to 375. Grease or line 2 cookie sheets.

Add a handful of dried cherries and a cup or so of oats if you want the cookies I made. If you like a chewy, super-oaty cookie, maybe throw in another half cup? My cookies were delicious, but not super oaty in texture. They had a little chewiness and a nice hint of oat flavor, but that's about it.
Drop the dough by heaping teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until the cookies are just slightly colored on top and the edges are brown, about 8 - 10 minutes. Let stand briefly, then remove to a rack to cool.

DEVOUR! (Oh, and I baked them for 5 minutes the first few times, then about 7 minutes on the last batch, which was defs the best. But I have a british oven and my conversions aren't always perfect, so you should probably stick to the instructions and just keep an eye out for browning tops.)